Fire trap-door.



C. KROEGEL.

HRE TRAP DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21, 1914.

Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

I gay/4747 IN VEN TOR. 6207/65 ifraqpel A TTOR NE YS.

CHARLES KROEGEL. oroaxnnnn, onnrronnra, Assronoa OFONE-THIRD To nonnnr E; WAINRIGHT; OF'OAKIJAND, CALIFORNIA.

FIRE- rnnrmoon.

ne ates:

Specificati'omofIletters-Patent. Paten1j 1 1$ug,2@gk191.

Application filedflctober 21,1314". Serial No. 867,762..

To all whom 2'25 may concern:

Be it known that I, Gimmes KRoneEL a citizen of'the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire Trap- Doors, of'which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in self-opening doors particularly adapted to be used in the opening between floors for fire houses' The prinoipalobject thereof be ing. to provide a self opening door, which when opened, is held in a raised position to one side of. the .opening through which the firemen slide down the polefrom one floor to another. The door being held in a raised -posit1onthere isno chance of the same springing back and injuring persons as.- they pass through the opening and having no parts which project. any, distance from the door itself there is no danger of injuries from this cause.

Other objects ofiny invention are to pro vide an improved latch mechanism for. holding the door in its clo'sedlposition, thesaid mechanism being so constructed that it will automatically release the doorwhen a fire alarm is soundedTand also'to provide means in connection therewith so that. in case of failure of" the electro-mechani'sm the latch may be manually released;

Another object ofmy invent on is to pro vide such a door, which is hinged at one side of the openingonly, tlius enablingthe latter to be freely reachedfrom threesides.

Still another object of my invention is to provide means for setting the latch mechanism after the door is; closed.

With these and other, objects in view my invention: consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts as herein de scribed and pointed out in the appended Claims. i

Reference'being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of t'lllS specification,

' Figure 1 is a view in section through the opening showing the door in its raised position. i

Fig. 2 is a view in section through the opening showing the door in side elevation in its raised position. i

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through the latch mechanism.

the line 5+5, Fig. l

having the circular pole 3 ratus, cold air Fig. 4: is a sectional View on the line l-4L, Fig. 3. y i

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on Referring to corresponding parts by the same numerals of'reference, 1 denotes afloor through which is provided an opening 2 in" the center thereof down which. the. firemen slide from the upper to the lower floor. As: the upper floor. isns-iially fitted up aslivingguarters for the firemen while the'lower flo ors are unheated and llSGdl to house the fire appaand unpleasant odors ascend through this openingglto the living quarters ofthe firemen. v

To prevent thisI provide: thepimproved type of door, consisting ofthe substantially circular portionl, adapted to fit withinthe opening 2, and this circular memheris provided with a flange 5,. which. rests-onthe upper edge of the floor-. To the underside of the door arms 6 are attached thereto by means of suitable screws 7, and projecting ends of'these arms are provided with; eyes 8 by means of. which they are pivot-ally 11 provides the necessary power for. raising the. door, and this spring} may be:of.any,85

preferred type, but as herein illustrated, conslsts of a' coil spring wound right. and left handedfromithe center at which point it is attached to a. fixed pin 12 in the shaft 9,

the free ends shownat 13. I At the center of disk l is provicledai circular opening 14, which fits aroundthe. pole 3 andextending from this openingi to the edge of, the disk is a slot. 15,. which enables the disk to pass the pole when it is being raisedor loweredl This slot. is inturnclosed by two flaps lG hinged as at 18. and held in a closed position by means of' spring 19 The latch mechanism consists of a casing 20, which is mounted in the side ofthe opening opposite the hinge of thedoor. Pending fromtheund'er side of this casing are certain supports 21 andQZ througl which are slidably mounted thefrodsf23" and 24.

The former is provided with holtiio which is adapted to engage thecatch 26. formed on the endof oneiof the bars 6.] The lower rod 24 has attached thereon an arm 27,

passing unden the arms as H which extendsupwardly and engages a 001- lar on the rod 23. The second-collar 29 is provided onthis, rod, which limits the movement of'the rod in one direction, the

bolt'limiting its movement in the opposite direction. Interposed between the, armj'27 and .the support 22 are springs 30, which urge these rods in a left hand direction, or tend to draw the bolt 25 from the catch 26. This tendency is prevented by means of the latch 31, engaging the'notch 32 in the rear end' of rod 24; This latch is'formed on the end of lever 33, which is pivotally mounted as at 34. A' heel 35' is provided on thislever on the opposite side of the pivot from latch 31, this heel being directly under and con- Movement is imparted to the lever at the rear endeither by means of the electromagnet 37- or by means of a foot press '38. The former acts on an armature 39. attached to lev r 33 intermediate its pivotal point and thezend thereof, and extending downwardly a'nd' to one side so as'to come imme-v diately under the core of the electro-magnet. I The foot press 38 is slidably mounted in the Flipper plateof the case 20 and in the angular "b'entfend 22 of support 22, and is urged inwa y r I against 22 and a pin 40. On the under side 'means of spring 39 abutting 01 22" is pivotally mounted a'small lever 41, ene a of which is pivotally attached to the lower endof 38, the other endof which rests against the under side of lever 33. I

"A bellcrank 42 is pivoted to the frame as at 43 and when the'device is not set rests in anopening 44 of the case 20. The other 1 end" of this bellcranlr is provided with a bifurcated end 45, each bifurcation of which "is slotted and is adapted to engage a pin 46 onithe rod 24. The outer end of this'bellcrank has an opening 47 through which the *finger may be inserted to reset the latch."

The operationv of the device is a 'Whenthe d0or,'is closed in passing the .3,the flaps 16 are bentupwardly until the door rests on the floor when these flaps fallby their. own weight and close the slot,

"thusproviding a substantially smooth covering' for the opening. -After"-the door is ;closed the finger 31s inserted through the "opening 47 andthebellcrank lever raised,

iwhiclrmoves the 24 to the right and the door through the arm 27 acting against collar 28, the arm 23, causing bolt 25 to engage the catch26 holdingthe door closed.

Now, the 'electro-magnet 37 is so con- 1 nected that when the alarm gong is sounded current is caused to flow through the wind ing of this electromagnet, which pullsup its armature 39 moving the lever 33 wlthdrawing the catch 31 as previously 'de' scribed. In case the electromagnet failed to work the firstman to the doorwould depress the upper end of 38 which through the lever .41flmechanically raises thelever 33 and accomplishes the same results; When this latch is released springs 3O push,the

bars 23 and 24 to the left disengaging the bolt '25 from its. catch "andallowing the spring 11 to raise the door. As the door is raised the flaps 16 are pressed downwardly,

19 press the flaps'upwardly again, thus eliminating the danger of the same being struck by the personsliding down the pole.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an effective device for' the purpose men- .tioned which is: automatic in its operation, but in case theautomatic means fails to operate the same mayj be quickly operated mechanically.

While I have shown preferred enibodiment of "my invention it will be understood that modifications and minor details in design may be made without departing fromfl'the scope of the claims. What I claim as new and by Letters Patent is: p i ,7

r111 aclosure for the openings between floors of fire houses comprising, a door hinged at one side thereof, spring means for normally holding said door inits open po-' sition, a slot extending from the outer edge to center of said" door to allow the same to pass the pole through the'fioor opening, flaps hinged to the side of said slot and. means forholding said flaps in the plane of when the latter is'in its open posi- 'tion.

wish to cover '2. In a closure for openings in floors comprlslng 1n combmat on w th a pole in the but as soon as the pole is passed the springs center thereof, a closure havinga slot extending from the center to the edge, hinged flaps adapted to close said slot, spring means on theclosure for holdingsaid'fiaps closed butpermitting the flaps to open upon "engaging the pole anda spring-hinge'for hold ing said closure in its open position. In test mony whereof I aiiiX my signature in presence oftwo witnesses. V I CHARLES KRoEeEn: Witnessesr I d T R. M. OYARzo, V CATHERINE KRoEeE floples ot-t his patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

